Team Case StudyThe Agem Electronics Corporation instrument assembly team has clearly proved to be a productive group of workers. Led by Larry Fisher, the profit position for instrument manufacturing operations is now one of the best in the company. Fisher’s close relationship with his employees creates a working environment where people are excited to work and are motivated to meet their quotas according to their work schedule. Fisher’s amiable and approachable personality combined with the large amount of freedom granted to his workers help make each employee work hard towards the greater good of the company. There is no question that this group is efficient as the statistics clearly show. However, there is still room for improvement. In order to maximize company profits, this instrument assembly team will need to be even more productive and efficient. To do this, a few problems within instrument manufacturing operations must be addressed. One main issue that must be dealt with is organizational communication. Job tasks are incorrectly formally divided, grouped and coordinated throughout the instrument assembly team. Too many people are doing jobs that they should simply not be doing in the first place. In addition, the bases of power within instrument manufacturing operations show no true authority structure whatsoever. Other than Larry Fisher there isn’t a real authority figure in each instrument team. Lastly, big corporations need to change with the technology growing around them and this company is no exception. In order to produce more in the most efficient manner, old machinery and equipment will not get the job done. In the long run the solutions to these main problems will essentially maximize the instrument team’s performance resulting in an increased profit position for the Agem Electronics Corporation.

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Among several problems, the foundations of the organization structure could contribute to the flawed design of the instrument assembly team. Each employee’s job in the factory atmosphere is neither clearly defined, designated, nor restricted. Exemplifications of this point are gathered by a series of observations in which employees respond and operate to certain stimuli and circumstances. Supporting logic would include when there appears not to be any central accountability to a higher level of authority, such as the chain-of-command. When Betty accidentally broke a glass part of retail value $125 in incident #2, no appropriate action was taken. Her “supervisor” Sally pretended not to notice, and nothing was reported to upper management. This posed a clearly evident picture of the group inertia in response to behaviors. An alternative course of action to this is to reestablish new forms of organizational communication. New and innovative structural mechanisms such as the proposed new organizational design would be geared towards a matrix organization structure. Shown below in Figure 1 is the Channel Figures diagram, illustrating how the organization design, communication, relationship, and respective modes of protocol should be structured between Fisher and his workers.

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